Reply #61: The Japanese ADMIT to selling it!

[apaflo]

Originally posted by jmowreader:
Under the rules of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) all whales taken through research programs must be processed to the greatest extent practicable. Japan processes the whale meat and sells it on the market. The funding obtained goes towards financing the following year’s research programs.

The ICRW treaty is also available online. The referenced section is Article VIII, which says:

http://www.iwcoffice.org/commission/convention.htm:

1. Notwithstanding anything contained in this Convention, any Contracting Government may grant to any of its nationals a special permit authorizing that national to kill, take, and treat whales for purposes of scientific research subject to such restrictions as to number and subject to such other conditions as the Contracting Government thinks fit, and the killing, taking, and treating of whales in accordance with the provisions of this Article shall be exempt from the operation of this Convention. Each Contracting Government shall report at once to the Commission all such authorizations which it has granted. Each Contracting Government may at any time revoke such special permit which it has granted.


2. Any whales taken under these special permits shall so far as practicable be processed and the proceeds shall be dealt with in accordance with directions issued by the Government by which the permit was granted.


3. Each Contracting Government shall transmit to such body as may be designated by the Commission, in so far as practicable, and at intervals of not more than one year, scientific information available to that Government with respect to whales and whaling, including the results of research conducted pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article and to Article IV.


4. Recognizing that continuous collection and analysis of biological data in connection with the operations of factory ships and land stations are indispensable to sound and constructive management of the whale fisheries, the Contracting Governments will take all practicable measures to obtain such data.

A couple of obvious things to note from the treaty wording are that the Japanese are required to sell the meat, and also that the legality of research whaling is not a "loophole", as some claim, but instead was considered an absolute essential item in the treaty.

It should also be noted that sale of whale meat does not generate even enough money to fully support the research project, which gets a subsidy from the Japanese government.